Gender Confusion and Modern Controversies

All of us are familiar with the gender-neutral agenda that the culture pushes (though it's certainly not limited to America). But can it be linked with things like abortion and homosexuality, two of the biggest controversies we face in our time? With homosexuality it's not difficult to see how what is normally associated with natural attraction and desire for intimacy/commitment with the opposite gender is traded for something that is replacing it with the same gender. With abortion, arguably the main reason that women seek abortions is that they don't want their life to be encumbered by a child at the time of their pregnancy, usually for the sake of wanting to have a "brighter future," "choosing" things like prioritizing a career, wanting to finish college, move up on the corporate ladder, or any number of things that they view as more important than raising a child. Certainly there is more that should have been prevented on her part before the pregnancy occurred, but the issue here is that it is so ingrained for a woman to look out for herself in the financial sense that she views her role as independent and as the provider for herself instead of having a depended mindset on someone who will commit to her in holy marriage.

The Bible has such clearly defined roles for men and women that it's a wonder sometimes to me that churches simply don't emphasize what they are. Would abortion be as much of an issue if churches in America taught that marriage is something that young men/women should be moving towards (at least the majority of people) instead of looking at it like it's optional? Would aboirtion be as big of an issue if men were taught to be the provider of their household and women to be keepers at home, as opposed to not intruding on people's personal goals of being self-sufficient (another thing the culture teaches)? I would say no. Too often men are caught off guard by the weight of responsibility in terms of leading and being the one who is depended on in so many ways, and women do not hear about the importance of what it means to be a Proverbs 31 woman and the joys that come with it (far more than they will ever get in prioritizing a career). Now this does serve more as a preventitive model. Obviously there are many people in a situation that does not fully lend itself to this pattern (e.g. an abandoned spouse left to raise her kids, which is really the man's atrocity in this case). I'll try to post on that in the future. But it's still high time that we as Christians lived out our roles as male and female.

This topic has been on my mind so much that it seems good to at least post on it more frequently, and specifically to link articles that deal with this topic of gender roles. Obviously, the end goal is not to merely point out the cultural flaws, but to glorify God and follow His plan for our lives. Nothing can bring more satisfaction or fulfillment. But we need to help each other out in this. We need to embrace what God has revealed to us as what is best. The end result will be transformed families, being good stewards of what the Lord has gifted us with, and being a brighter light to the world that is quickly crumbling around us.

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Copyright 2006-2009 Shawn Anthony. All rights are reserved.